Chris Hondros

Chris Hondros (March 14, 1970 – April 20, 2011) was an American war photographer. Hondros was a finalist twice for a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.

Biography Chris Hondros was born in New York City to immigrant Greek and German parents who were child refugees after World War II. He spent most of his childhood in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he graduated from Terry Sanford High School in 1988.

Hondros studied English literature at North Carolina State University where he also worked for the Technician, the campus newspaper. In 1991, Hondros submitted his portfolio and was invited to attend the Eddie Adams Workshop. After graduating from State in 1993, Hondros moved to Athens, Ohio, and earned a master's degree at Ohio University School of Visual Communications. In 2001, Hondros was selected for the Pew Fellowship for International Reporting through Johns Hopkins University. Hondros also followed Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004. His work included disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

His work appeared as the covers of magazines such as Newsweek and the Economist, and on the front pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

His photography was featured in the documentary film, Liberia: A Fragile Peace (2006).

Iraq photos Hondros's images from Iraq, especially a January 2005 picture series detailing the shooting of an Iraqi family by U.S. troops, were published extensively and garnered worldwide acclaim and criticism.

On January 18, 2005, an Iraqi family was traveling in a car in Tal Afar. Fearing a suicide bomber, U.S. troops fired warning shots, then fired into the vehicle, killing both parents and paralyzing one of their five children sitting in the back seat. As a result of the worldwide interest in his case generated by Hondros's pictures, the boy, Rakan Hassan, was later flown to the United States for treatment in a Boston hospital, but was murdered in a bombing by insurgents shortly after his return.

Hondros won dozens of international awards for the images. One of his pictures of this tragedy is likely to become "one of the few photos from the Iraq war that could stand out in history" according to Liam Kennedy, from University College Dublin.

In an interview, Hondros stated:

Almost every soldier in Iraq has been involved in some sort of incident like that or another, I would say. Their attitude about it was grim, but it wasn't the end of their world. It was, "Well, kind of wished they'd stopped. We fired warning shots. Damn, I don't know why the hell they didn't stop. What're you doing later, you want to play Nintendo? Okay." Just a day's work for them. That stuff happens in Iraq a lot. Photojournalists Guy Martin said that the group was traveling with rebel fighters. According to The New York Times, Hondros died from his injuries as a result of severe brain trauma.

Chris Hondros Fund The Chris Hondros Fund is a nonprofit organization established in 2011 in the memory of Hondros and his life's work. The fund's mission is to provide non-profit institutions with grants to advocate for photojournalists. One fellowship for attendance to the Eddie Adams Workshop will be offered annually along with one other fellowship awarded by application.

Hondros film

In 2013 the author Greg Campbell launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce a documentary named Hondros: A Life in Frames. The project was launched with an initial goal of $30,000.00 and became fully funded within three days with a total of $89,639 raised.

Campbell and Hondros met and became best friends in high school. After Hondros' death, Campbell was contacted by Liberian Joseph Duo, who was the subject of one of Hondros' most famous photographs. It was released in theaters on March 2, 2018.

Awards 2003: World Press Photo, Amsterdam: Honorable Mention, Spot News. 2003: Overseas Press Club, New York: John Faber Award. 2004: Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography: Finalist for his work in Liberia. 2004: Pictures of the Year International Competition, Missouri School of Journalism: 3rd Place and Honourable Mention, Conflict. 2005: World Press Photo, Amsterdam: Second Prize, Spot News. 2006: Overseas Press Club, New York: Robert Capa Gold Medal for "exceptional courage and enterprise" in his work from Iraq. 2007: American Photo magazine: named "Hero of Photography" for his work in Iraq. 2007: Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards: First Place. 2008: National Magazine Awards: nominee for his essay "A Window on Baghdad". 2012: Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography: Finalist for "coverage of revolutionary protests known as the Arab Spring".